Converting A Home Heating Oil Furnace To Burn Waste Vegetable Oil Or Biodiesel

1. CONVERTING A HOME HEATING OIL FURNACE TO BURN WASTE MOTOR OIL/
WASTE VEGETABLE OIL/ BIODIESEL: PARTS/ TOOLS NEEDED WITH A FULL
EXPLANATION/ DEMONSTRATION FOR A DIY PROJECT
Jesse Parris, Alternative Energy Education from the Yahoo Altfuelfurnace Forum:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/altfuelfurnace
Jesse Parris runs the Altfuelfurnace forum on Yahoo. The forum has over a thousand
members from all over the globe and describes itself this way:
DESCRIPTION
Alternative fuels, like SVO, (straight veg oil, waste veg oil) waste motor oil and biodiesel
are being successfully burned in adapted residential oil-fired furnace burners such as
Arco, R.W. Beckett, Carlin, Ducane, Esso, International, Riello, Slant Finn and Wayne.
PURPOSE OF THIS FORUM
The forum is a meeting place to exchange information and ideas in adapting residential
oil burners that use HHO(home heating oil)to these alternative fuels. This would also
include info on other devices like pre-heaters, heat-exchangers, heat-retention units,
thermocouples, filters, thermocouple temperature controllers, relay devices, etc.
Features and resources at the forum include photo galleries and movies of working
converted burners as well as files and links for purchasing parts and services.
While Richard Wiswall transforms his vegetable oil into biodiesel to burn in standard oil
furnaces and diesel engines, Jesse has adapted his gun-style oil burner on his forced
hot-air furnace to burn straight vegetable oil, waste motor oil and/or biodiesel.

2. Like Richard, Jesse collects, on a year-round basis, used vegetable oil in plastic jugs at
a local restaurant. However, for his residential furnace, the demand for the used veggie
oil is much less than a farm would require. He encourages the idea of co-ops for
collecting used vegetable oil. If many small oil users group together, they present a
larger demand and can negotiate and offer a more reliable oil removal service to
restaurants. Cooperatives also might develop the capacity to filter waste vegetable oil
quicker and cleaner as well as meet the demand that greenhouses might require.
After collecting the waste vegetable oil, Jesse starts the process by filtering it through
several stages of 1-5 micron, felt filters. Once filtered, the oil is stored in 55 gallon
plastic barrels and transferred into the garage, as the season demands it. A gun-style oil
burner, a Beckett AF in this case, has been adapted to preheat the oil to 120 degrees
(using an aluminum cover with cartridge heaters embedded into it) at the oil pump on
the burner. From there, the oil pump brings the oil up to 150 psi as it passes through a
long collar using temperature controlled band heaters that bring the temperature up to
275-300 degrees. When the hotter oil reaches the end of the nozzle tube, it get sprayed
out using a standard Hago oil burner nozzle. The mixture of hot, atomized waste veg-oil
spray is combined with fanned air and ignited where it is swirled through a special
retention head that’s used to control the flame cone to work within the specifications of a
residential furnace setup.
The waste vegetable gun-style oil burner experimentation has evolved over the last
three year into a newer and more efficient design which now features a siphon nozzle
setup that has proven to work as well, or better, with less overall maintenance. The
advantage of the siphon nozzle is that it lasts 6-8 weeks or longer before needing
attention instead of the 2 to 3 weeks for the standard nozzle setup. Other modifications
that might bear more experimentation have included the use of firebrick in the
combustion chamber of the forced hot air furnace or boiler instead of the standard
Koawool setup to modify and control the flame cone.

3. The parts for converting an oil burner to run an alternative fuel cost anywhere between
$200-$400, depending on whether or not the setup is standard nozzle or siphon nozzle.
While a preheater is required for both, a compressor is required for a siphon nozzle
setup, which brings up the initial investment.
If you already have a shop compressor then you are ahead of the game.
As a side note, filtering and pre-heating waste vegetable oil is what allows it to run in an
unmodified diesel motor without any damage, though the preheating demands are less:
between 160 to 190 degrees being the ideal temperature of the vegetable oil right
before reaching the injection pump.
Important Safety Notes:
Heated oil is volatile and can explode under the right circumstances. Always have a
controlled safety plan (fire extinguisher, water hose nearby, protective eyewear, gloves,
and a telephone with emergency numbers on hand) close by while experimenting, just
to cover all the bases.
Related Yahoo Groups:
Altfuelbabington
Vegoilburners
Wastewatts
To join these groups, go online to http://groups.yahoo.com/group and enter the group of
interest, then follow directions on the screen.